Selkie Heart
by Linderel
Summary: [INDEFINITELY ON HIATUS] Kakashi finds out that Iruka isn't dolphin only by his name...
1. Night Swim

**Title: **Selkie Heart (probably only a working title, though)

**Genre: **Romance, drama.

**Rating: **I'm starting out as PG, but it can rise up to R...

**Pairing(s): **KakaIru, other pairings possible. If you wish for some specific pairing, let me know.

**Warnings: **Possible spoilers up to episode 106 of the anime, diverts after that (see, I'm still in denial about the whole Sasuke-going-to-Orochimaru ordeal). Other than that, well... You can expect a fair dose of angst, but there is a possibility for full-fledged fluff, too - oh, the horror! Ahem, yeah. Err, I guess that's it.

**Author's Note:** Hi there. This fic was inspired by a fabulous picture to which I have a link in my bio. The one who drew it dared someone to write a story based on it, so I did. I just hope this fic will do justice to the piece. That's all, I guess. Review?

Oh, yeah. I snatched the title from the artist. I'll change it, though, if I can come up with something.

'blah' - thoughts

"blah" - speech

_kakairukakairu - _change of scene or POV

* * *

**Chapter One - Night Swim**

A lithe figure trudged wearily along the quiet streets of Konoha, observing its surroundings. The village was still recovering from Orochimaru's attack, so one could still detect broken windows and damaged walls here and there. It was definitely looking better, though, than immediately after the short but fierce war-like state. The figure stretched its hands and sped up. Soon would be midnight, and the break of dawn was only few hours away. When finally reaching the river, Umino Iruka sighed in relief. Tonight, he could once again get a brief taste of freedom, even if it was all pretense.

_kakairukakairu_

Unbeknownst to the Chuunin, someone else had the same destination. Hatake Kakashi the Sharingan User, Konoha's Copy Ninja, was making his way to the bridge where he usually met his team of insufferable - well, alright, they _did _all have their good moments, many of them actually, if one wanted to be completely honest - brats. He didn't very often take nightly walks, but he had just finished reading all of Jiraya's books he possessed, and since the old man had been busy lately and thus unable to publish anything new, Kakashi was left bored out of his skull. The silver-haired Jounin would have gone to bed, and had actually tied, but sleep had evaded him. So he was left with no other choice than to randomly walk around, and his feet were guiding him to the bridge out of habit.

Really, one could think that he had no other life than watching over his team nowadays, which was blatantly untrue. There was that former teacher of one of his students, a certain pony-tailed, temperamented, adorable Chuunin who just... 'No, no no no,' Kakashi berated himself, 'not going there, not tonight you aren't. You have got to stop thinking about him, you've seen how all the single women and even some married ones are looking at him. He's probably dating someone anyway.'

The Jounin sighed. Lately, thoughts about Naruto's former sensei just wouldn't leave him alone. He didn't know when or where, but somehow he had managed to fall in love with Iruka. And once he'd realized what all that pleasurably painful anxiousness he experienced near the Chuunin was, he had been too far gone to turn back anymore. He was silently brooding over the subject for the umpteenth time when he arrived at his destination, and his senses immediately alerted him out of his musings. Something was out of the ordinary...

'What the hell is that?'

_kakairukakairu_

It was pure bliss. To feel the water around him, flowing and swirling in his wake, to have that cold, velvety wetness brushing against his skin. The river wasn't deep so he had to be careful not to be bruised by the rocky bottom, but it was still better than nothing. If only he could do this more often than just a couple of times in a month. Iruka enjoyed the experience to its fullest every single time, and with a bittersweet pain throbbing in his chest knew that he would have to stop soon, step on the land to shed his dolphin skin and be a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf once again. Each time hurt him more than before, and he was starting to have difficulties in preserving his mask. If only his parents hadn't chosen a life on land...

Another presence registered in his senses, and he froze momentarily. It was a familiar one, and after a few seconds he recognized it. Kakashi. Iruka swore in his mind; he was sure that the man had seen him, and knowing the curiosity of the silver-haired Jounin... He would have to get away, and fast. The lithe, graceful form of the dolphin turned, having just enough room to do so in the river, and went to where his bag and clothes were. Getting out of the water, the dolphin started to shed its skin quickly. Iruka kneeled, completely naked, in front of his bag and folded the still wet skin gently but swiftly, placing it inside when done. And just in time. When he was reaching for his hitai-ate that was lying on top of his heap of clothes, he felt Kakashi's presence again.

_kakairukakairu_

Kakashi chased the odd creature without hesitation when it turned and swam to the direction it had been coming from. He had seen something resembling it once when he was on a mission, but it couldn't possibly be a dolphin. It just didn't make sense. Dolphins lived at sea, there was no way one could have wandered this far from the ocean. He hadn't run more than a couple of minutes before he came to an abrupt halt. He sensed that whatever he had been chasing was gone, and that what was just a short way ahead of him was someone very familiar, none other than the object of his earlier musings.

Stepping from behind a tree, Kakashi witnessed a very wet, very _naked_ Iruka who was in the process of tying his forehead protector into place. The Jounin thanked all the gods he could remember that it was dark, and that he had his mask in place. Iruka was regarding him calmly with deep brown eyes, his dripping hair still down and almost black in the night, the soft light of the full moon illuminating his feminine features to a nearly stunning effect. Kakashi was pretty damn sure he was blushing, and aside from that, about the only thing he could bring himself to think was: 'Beautiful.'

Iruka offered him a small smile. "Good evening, Kakashi-sensei. A beautiful night, is it not?"

* * *

**A/N: **Next chapter, 'Truth unveiled' features a confused Kakashi, a panicking Iruka, another late night swim and some confessions. Will be done some time next week, 'till then, ja ne! 


	2. Truth Unveiled

**Genre: **Romance, drama.

**Rating: **PG - R

**Pairing(s): **Kakashi/Iruka

**Warnings: **Possible spoilers up to episode 106 of the anime. A fair dose of angst and fluff to be expected, also some lame attempts at humour.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine. Hatake Kakashi, Umino Iruka, all other characters and the village of Konoha were created by Kishimoto Masashi. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

**Summary: **Kakashi finds out that Iruka isn't a dolphin only by his name...

**Status: **Incomplete.

"blah" - speech

'blah' -thought (most of the time)

_kakairukakairu _- change of scene or POV

* * *

_Iruka offered him a small smile. "Good evening, Kakashi-sensei. Beautiful night, is it not?"_

**Chapter Two - Truth Unveiled**

Kakashi tried desperately to get his brains to work, to think of something even remotely intelligent to say as a response, to tell his blood to stop flowing to inconvenient areas. In other words, he was trying to cover up how much the dight of the object of his daydreams there in front of him in that undressed state was affecting him. Miraculously, the Jounin succeeded.

"Indeed it is, Iruka-sensei," he said finally, after the silence had stretched for over a minute. "You couldn't sleep, either?"

His voice betrayed nothing; he managed to keep his usual bored tone intact. The silver-haired shinobi was actually quite proud of this achievement. Iruka was still watching him, as if evaluating, clothes momentarily forgotten. Then, suddenly, he smiled, and shaking his head reached for the pile. Producing a clothes article after another he dressed quietly, turning back to his companion only when done. Kakashi violently squashed a twinge of disappointment - the rational part of his mind told him that the younger man could very well catch a cold if he stayed undressed for too long in the cool night air. The Jounin also decidedly ignored the voice in his head that suggested he could warm up the brunette.

"Ah... You could say so, yes. Although this was more out of habit than due to insomnia, something I started doing in my younger years," the Chuunin replied good-naturedly, hoisting his bag onto his shoulder as he spoke. Kakashi blinked in mild confusion. The air about the brunette had completely changed in a matter of seconds. He covered up his surprise swiftly and hummed thoughtfully. "Swimming before going to bed, seems like a fairly good idea. Maybe I should try it myself tomorrow night."

Naturally, Kakashi had other motives than just using up energy in order to get sleep. He hoped to meet Iruka alone again and get to know the younger man. He became, however, further confused by the fleeting expression of panic that settled on the attractive features of the brunette before being replaced by the wary politeness he usually showed Kakashi. The Jounin couldn't help feeling a bit hurt.

'He's hiding something...and I want to know what it is!' he thought, his mind made up. Hatake Kakashi, Copy Ninja Extraordinaire, was going to find out the secret his crush held. By going for a late night swim with said crush.

_kakairukakairu_

It would be serious belittling to say that Umino Iruka was slightly distressed. Indeed, a better way to describe his current state of mind would rather be 'extremely nervous'. The brown-haired Chuunin was on his way to the river again, fervently hoping that Kakashi had forgotten about his idea the previous night or at least wouldn't be arriving for the next couple of hours. Iruka wanted to enjoy the short moments he had in his dolphin form, dammit, and there was no way he would let the overly curious, Sharingan-wielding Jounin see him in it again!

He sighed, squatting down and kneeling in order to place his bag on the ground, then stood back up and began to undress. Really, sometimes he just wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all. 'Why,' he thought for about the millionth time in his life, 'did my parents have to go and choose a life on land? And as ninjas, of all things! How ironic. Because of that, their son is practically a were-dolphin. And here I go again, complaining about things that can no longer be fixed.'

Sighing again, then casting his worries off for a while, Iruka carefully slipped into the bluish-gray dolphin skin and plummeted into the river. Another moment of freedom, another moment away from the cold, cruel world of humans. Yes, he loved Naruto like he would love a son of his own, but sometimes it all just felt to be too much for him to bear. He really wished that his parents hadn't chosen a life on land over a simpler, if not safer, life in the ocean. Or at least would have had sense enough not to make children. They had moved to Konoha years before Iruka was born, only changing back to their dolphin form every few weeks. His mother was in her human form when giving birth to him. And that was the mistake they made.

Iruka swam like it was his last chance to do so, his last day alive, hell, his last _anything_. He wanted to get rid of this bitterness - every single time he blamed his parents for his situation, he ended up being overwhelmed by guilt. It felt like he was betraying their memory. They had given their lives to protect Konoha, to protect _him_, and he sure as hell wasn't going to forget that. Lost in his thoughts and the heavenly feel of water around him, Iruka didn't notice Kakashi's presence until it was almost too late. When he did, he repeated his actions from the previous night; turned tail and fled.

This time, however, he wasn't that lucky.

_kakairukakairu_

Kakashi blinked. Once. Twice. No, he wasn't hallucinating, the dolphin-like creature still moved swiftly under the surface. The Jounin tensed, ready to give chase, and so he wasn't left behind when it again turned and headed back. This time he was sure to conceal his presence like only an elite shinobi like himself could. When the creature came to a halt, he hid behind a tree and waited. He nearly held his breath as the water's surface was breached by what looked like a...human head?

Kakashi couldn't, despite years of training, stifle a startled gasp as he regocnised Iruka's features. Fortunately the Chuunin seemed to not have heard it. He watched in fascination as the younger man peeled oof the skin of the dolphin-like creature, folded it, and placed it inside his bag. 'So this is what you didn't want me to know... But what exactly is this?'

Suddenly, Iruka's head snapped in his direction. The brunette's eyes were wide and..._fearful_? Kakashi began to swear under his breath and nearly choked when he heard the Chuunin's voice. "I know you're there, Kakashi-sensei. Please, come out." The tone was soft and oddly resigned, barely louder than a whisper. After a brief moment of hesitation, the silver-haired man walked up to Iruka and looked him square in the face.

Iruka cleared his throat. "I guess you'll be wanting an explanation," he said, in that same resigned tone, and continued before the Jounin had a chance to interrupt. "I'm sure you've heard the selkie legend at some point or other in your life. Well, my parents were of a people similar to the selkie, only they were dolphins.

"For some reason, they chose a life on land, moved to Konoha and became shinobi. Because of this, when I was born, my existence was mutated. I am neither fully human nor one of the dolphin people, but rather something in between. You could say that in a way I'm a were-dolphin, because I can only put on my skin on the nights of a full moon. I was born in a dolphin form out of a human womb, and my skin immediately peeled off, growing along with my body and only regaining its power once every month for the time span of two or three nights. There is my story, are you happy now, Kakashi-sensei?"

The brunette's tone had grown sad, bitter, and the last syllable was nearly bitten out. Kakashi winced That the younger man had had to live like that... He seemed so vulnerable, now, sitting there with his knees drawn to his chest, still fully naked, deep brown eyes filled with frustrated tears and grief and bitterness and _pain_. Nothing like the cheerful, temperamental Academy teacher he was during daytime, and still all the same. For once in his life, the genius Jounin was left without words. So he took the only course of action he could think of, and one which he would feel quite a bit of guilt for later on.

Kakashi kneeled down in front of Iruka and kissed him softly, tenderly. Then, making use of the younger man's shock, the Jounin gathered him along with all of his things and took him home.


End file.
